Sometimes Shutting Out the World
by Reianshitsu
Summary: Uploaded with permission! - A bloody battle becomes the turning point in the Vam-Peir's war against Gougan because of a few surprises and a little extra help.


_**Sometimes Shutting Out the World Takes a Little Extra Help**_

_By: Rèîán§hitsü_

Characters Used: Darecry Vam-Peir, Nozomu Vam-Peir, Drako Vam-Peir, Raidne Kalevi, Orimaru Shinonome, Kusari-Tekii, Gougan.

* * *

The battle was in constant motion, swords clashed and blood splattered. Gougan's forces were overpowering the Vam-Peir twins and their help. They had been fighting for nearly a half day straight, and night would come very soon.

Nozomu had gotten a mouthful of Darecry's power not long after this started. The thought blew her away and she hated him for a moment in time. But she couldn't leave his side, she bore his mark, and in her heart she wanted to fight beside him. She didn't care about all the connections of the war or whatever else was involved. The simple thought in her mind was she owed Darecry a beating now, and she had to make sure he lived to get it.

Drako had locked Raidne in Darecry's castle against her will. She was human and would be killed within seconds. They both knew it but Raidne's love for Drako out passed her common sense. She wanted to help. She wanted to fight. She didn't care if it killed her or injured her badly. She wanted to stand with him. But he wanted her to live so he locked her up in Darecry's castle for her own safety. Raidne felt miserable being stuck there, and she started to feel jealousy toward Nozomu, Nozomu who had reason and ability to fight with Darecry… and Drako.

Orimaru and Kusari had yet to show up to this fight, where they had gotten lost to no one had any idea. To all appearances this looked like it was all up to Drako, Darecry, Nozomu, and the dwindled armies of the Vam-Peir twins. Gougan had the upper hand, and his authority soon reigned over the ever decreasing forces of the better side.

Sunset was fast approaching when the last of Drako's and Darecry's armies were annihilated. Gougan's army had taken major hits as well and not many remained, but still, a few is better then none. Three people stood against roughly a hundred, not including Gougan himself. Drako and Darecry were tired. Nozomu was worse.

Drako and Darecry stood a few yards beside each other, facing the opposing force. They were breathing heavily through their mouths as blood flowed down them. Drako's hair was uneven and bloody while Darecry had several near holes in his head. Their clothes were blood soaked and had many rips and tears in them. The recovery from this battle would be painful.

Nozomu stood off a ways from both men, panting hard and holding her side and her stomach. Blood dripped from the corners of her lips as she fought back coughing up blood. Her arms were shaking from the blood loss and at the current time she couldn't see through her left eye because of the blood that had run into it. Her left arm, the one not around her stomach, was broken badly, the bone poking out of the skin. The blood around it was blackish looking and it felt like her arm was on fire. She was leaning onto her left leg since the right one had been twisted half way around and recently dislocated. Her gums ached and some of her teeth had been left in the corpses of the soldiers she had killed.

Nozomu felt light headed and her skin was cold to the touch, she didn't know how much longer her consciousness would hold. Not even against Kusari's worst enemy had she been this beaten up. Nozomu's eyes drifted over to Drako and Darecry, who were similarly beaten up bad but seemed to be holding their own better then her. They were still standing tall and bracing themselves for the opposing army to come. Yet, with all the strength they had left they hadn't made a move to charge at their enemy. They were waiting for the standing enemy to come first.

Perhaps sometimes this was a good strategy, but sometimes you also have to boldly charge at your opponent. It didn't matter if you were killed or not, it showed confidence in yourself and maybe a bit of faith you'd be okay. Nozomu didn't care if the move killed her, she was already no better then dead.

She took her right hand off her side, revealing what was left of broken ribs and a huge chunk of her body missing. From a couple inches above her waist to half way up her chest she had very little remains of skin. The clothes had been ripped away and the bones were broken and jagged. She would die from blood loss soon. Leaning her hand down her arm was stained with blood from the wound on her stomach, from where she had a sword stuck all the way through her body and drug up a few inches. The cut was about five inches vertically and because of the way her opponent had removed the sword near the top of the incision was a horizontal cut nearly three inches long. The clothing in front had been ripped off by Nozomu when she wrapped up a gap in her upper right arm where someone had attempted to cut her arm off but she'd stopped them, only not before they'd gotten the sword over half way through her arm.

Nozomu shut her eyes tightly and attempted to force back a scream when she pushed her leg back into place. She'd managed to hold some of the scream back but not enough to keep Drako and Darecry from glancing back at her. Up to this point they hadn't seen how bad off she was. Darecry's eyes widened as did Drako's, but not nearly as full of fear.

Nozomu coughed up blood a couple times before managing to force it back again. She knew she couldn't very well afford to loose any more blood at this point. She stood back up then she realized Drako and Darecry were looking at her. She looked back at them a moment, mostly at Darecry.

"I'm not waiting any longer," Nozomu spoke almost through her teeth before picking up her sword that was lying beside her feet.

She held onto the hilt tightly, throwing a second glance directly at Darecry before charging at the hundred soldiers left of Gougan's army. Both men watched her a moment but after Nozomu cut down another of Gougan's soldiers, they both followed her into the crowd.

Back at the castle Raidne had managed to pick the lock and free herself from her cell. She ran outside as fast as she could after picking up her gun a few rooms down. She got out of the courtyard and saw the fighting in the distance. She ran that way as fast as her legs would go and soon reached the battle. She stopped near some corpses a little further out, her eyes wide at the trio fighting the remaining soldiers.

She cocked her gun then started shooting, even from that distance hitting her target. Upon the first few shots, the trio as well as Gougan looked in Raidne's direction quite surprised someone else has showed up. Raidne noticed but kept firing at the soldiers, hitting everyone she aimed at. Gougan gave what sounded like an order in a language Drako and Darecry understood. The order pretty much meant that Raidne was the main target.

Some of the soldiers ran out Raidne's way. A few were cut down by Drako but his attention was quickly drawn away by others. The other soldiers were shot down by Raidne before they even came within five yards. The ground was dis-formed and the enemy soldiers used that to their advantage to get to Raidne. Instead of a desert it looked more like a canyon with cliffs and slopes and dark holes that probably dropped to an unknown length.

When the soldiers got close to her, Raidne emptied her gun then dropped it, resorting to kicking and punching the crap out of the soldiers. For a while it worked, and then it stopped working. The army dwindled down to nearly fifty when Darecry got stabbed near his heart and started to get lightheaded. Drako's fate seemed sealed when shortly after that he got hit hard enough on the head to instantly kill a human.

Even with this disadvantage the trio, with Raidne's help managed to get Gougan's army down to twenty soldiers before Raidne got stabbed through her stomach. Her eyes widened. By then Raidne was closer to the group and was almost immediately seen. The soldier pulled out his sword to defend from Drako's attack. Raidne stepped back out of their way and punched another soldier directly in the chest.

Darecry was busy fighting a couple other soldiers while Nozomu cut off the head of the one she'd been fighting. Raidne pushed the soldier off one of the cliffs but had been pulled off in the process. Drako killed the soldier who had stabbed Raidne about the time Darecry finished the two he was fighting. That's when they heard Nozomu scream.

Nozomu held Raidne's wrist gritting her teeth to keep from screaming anymore. She pulled Raidne up onto the ground then let go of her arm. Nozomu's left arm was up against her chest seeing as how she'd laid on it to catch Raidne. The broken bone pierced Nozomu's chest, Nozomu was unaware if she'd caught her heart with it or not but it didn't matter anymore anyway. Nozomu pulled her arm away from her chest with her other hand, jerking the bone out of her chest and coughing up more blood. She stood up slowly opening her eyes.

Raidne stood up as well about the time the rest of the army started to fall, one at a time from the back toward the front. Gougan barely managed to dodge a surprise attack, all eyes now up at him. Blood dripped down Gougan's cheek onto his shirt now as Orimaru appeared not far from Drako, who was somewhere between Darecry and Nozomu. The last of the soldiers fell as Kusari slit his throat standing near Darecry now.

Gougan looked at them a moment before deciding to retreat, he left without a word, leaving the six people together on the battlefield. For a few moments the shock of what had just happened held onto the group as the sun started to set in the distance.

When the shock wore off, Nozomu looked at Orimaru for a moment then at Kusari. Kusari looked back her face soon overcome with a second shock at Nozomu's condition.

"What… happened to you?" Kusari spoke softer then intended.

Nozomu slightly sneered in response before shutting her eyes and collapsing. Raidne caught her and held her up being careful of the bones. Drako looked over but his vision was blurry from the head impact previously. Drako felt light-headed and soon felt his legs give out before he fell into unconsciousness. Orimaru caught him before he hit the ground.

Darecry was staring at Nozomu trying not to cry. He started toward her but stumbled a bit, Kusari putting an arm around his back to keep him up. He looked at her a moment before Kusari spoke. She said something that was probably meant to be comforting but Darecry didn't hear it very well as he faded into a dark sleep.

* * *

Darecry's eyes opened to a room in his castle, his room. He was lying on the bed all cleaned, stitched, and wrapped up. He felt considerably better and knew he was almost completely healed. He looked beside him and Kusari was fixing to walk out, probably having just checked on them.

"Hey…" Darecry said.

Kusari turned and looked at him. She smiling seeing he was awake.

"Hey you feel better," she asked, speaking softly.

"Yeah… Wh-"

"I'm glad you're okay now, your brother woke up last night, you know you've been out three days now," Kusari stated, again talking quietly.

"Three days?" Darecry blinked a few times.

"Sssh," Kusari covered her mouth with one finger.

Darecry looked at her confused and in response Kusari pointed to the bed beside him. Darecry looked at her a moment longer then turned head to the other side looking beside himself in the bed. His eyes widened.

"He'll be the last to wake… he's barely alive… or he was three days ago," Kusari whispered, watching them a moment longer.

Darecry gently ran a hand down Nozomu's cheek. Kusari smiled a little then walked out quietly shutting the door behind herself. Nozomu was laying on her back her arms at her sides, under the covers. She wasn't wearing any clothing but her chest was completely covered in bandages as were her arms and her neck. Her forehead was wrapped up and the cuts on her face had been stitched up. Nozomu's legs were wrapped as well, her right one completely and her left thigh was wrapped up then the bandaged skipped her knee but continued all the way down to her ankle.

Her head was lying on the side facing Darecry and she seemed to be dead as her chest was barely moving and her face was still a bit pale. Darecry shut his eyes a moment thinking about what she had said in reference to shutting out all that upset her in the world. When he opened his eyes Nozomu was still there, completely out, shutting out everything in the world, what upset her and what didn't.

Darecry leaned over and softly kissed her, hoping that maybe she'd kiss back. He shut his eyes again waiting for a miracle, but after a few seconds he pulled away with no luck. A tear ran down his cheek followed by a few others Darecry couldn't hold back. They were falling like gravity was pulling them down.

"… You're such a loser… crying over me…" Nozomu muttered slowly opening her eyes looking up at him.

Darecry's eyes widened for a moment as he gazed back down at her. He slowly laid back down on his side, wiping his face.

"N-Nozomu… since when have you been awake? ..." Darecry softly asked her.

"You woke me up," Nozomu replied, she hesitated a moment then rolled over on her side slightly wincing from the wound she had on that side. It hurt laying like that but she didn't care she was sick of laying on her back.

"N-" Darecry started to say her name.

Nozomu pressed her lips against his shutting her eyes. She kept her eyes shut more often then not because there were a lot of things that upset her and shutting her eyes was the easiest way to shut them out. Right now she was in pain and wanted to shut that out as well as the fact she'd passed out on the battlefield, saved Drako's pitiful human girlfriend, and shown her weakness in front of Kusari-Tekii. Not to mention how she felt about being the one standing with Drako and Darecry when she was falling apart.

Darecry kissed back slowly closing his eyes after a moment. He was a little surprised Nozomu wasn't being rough like normal; she wasn't even kissing him that hard. She was almost kissing him like she needed _it_… for her own personal reasons. Like she needed _him_. Darecry felt Nozomu lean herself against him however slightly she did. Now he was sure, she did need him. Even if just for this single moment in time, she needed him, and she was subtly admitting it.

Nozomu pulled back keeping her eyes shut and just laying against him. Darecry opened his eyes and looked at her a moment then gently put his head up under her chin. He shut his eyes again feeling so much better then he had even after waking up. A moment later he felt Nozomu's arm around him as she slightly lowered her chin against the top of his head.

"I love you… and I'm sorry…" Nozomu whispered, keeping her eyes shut.

"I-I love you too… but why are you sorry?" Darecry whispered his question back.

"Because… if I don't say it now, I'm likely never to… I need you… thank you… Darecry."

Darecry opened his eyes really surprised now. He almost leaned up and looked at her but decided against it. He laid there quietly a moment listening to her breathe then slowly spoke quietly.

"Nozomu why…? I mean… I'm just confused…" He admitted with no reply.

"Nozomu?" He asked again after a few moments. Then he realized Nozomu's breathing was slower and her arm was heavier on his side. She'd fallen asleep again. But at least now he knew she was okay. Now he knew she would be alright.

Now he knew how she felt in the deepest parts of her soul. Darecry smiled to himself shutting his eyes. Even if she never said it again, now he knew.

"I love you so much Nozomu…" Darecry whispered. "… I need you too."


End file.
